July 4, 1967: Psychedelic times at the Electric Circus, on St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan, where one might observe “a model in a purple and silver polka dot jump suit” sailing into “the arms of a man dressed as a gorilla,” as one reporter did in The Times later that year. “Then, as the walls crawled with protoplasmic blobs of colored light throbbing with the beat, the model and the gorilla began to frug.” The frug (pronounced froog) being one of many dance crazes sweeping the nation.

The Lively Morgue is a daily photo blog from the New York Times in which an original photo from the newspaper's archives is reposted along with tidbits of information gleamed from the historical article it accompanied. Along with a rescan of the original photograph, the backs of each photo are also scanned, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the editorial process of one of the world's best newspapers.

Today's posting features a shot from July 4th, 1967 showing a psychedelic scene at pioneering music venue Electric Circus on St. Marks Place.

July 4, 1967: Psychedelic times at the Electric Circus, on St. Mark’s Place in Manhattan, where one might observe “a model in a purple and silver polka dot jump suit” sailing into “the arms of a man dressed as a gorilla,” as one reporter did in The Times later that year. “Then, as the walls crawled with protoplasmic blobs of colored light throbbing with the beat, the model and the gorilla began to frug.” The frug (pronounced froog) being one of many dance crazes sweeping the nation.